Tag: Pittsburgh Pirates.

Posted on

Pirate Morning Report: Who Would McCutchen Replace

There has been a lot of support for the Pirates to sign Andrew McCutchen. It gained some momentum when he was not at the recent Pirate Fest. I was hoping to write this blog after the Pirates made a move to upgrade 3rd base. That still could happen any day now, but I want to put my 2 cents in before this “sign McCutchen” rally gets any more ridiculous. Both social media and the local sports media have been really pushing this. If the Pirates were to sign McCutchen, it would show that they have fallen prey to sentimental slop rather than trying to win games. Let’s make a 13-man roster just for fun. This roster would not contain Konner Griffin, who I think has a good chance to make the team, but it would be unusual for the Pirates to make such a bold move even if he has a great spring training. We will make this roster very basic and then look at who McCutchen would replace on this roster if they signed him. The proponents of signing McCutchen point to the fact that the Pirates had a lot of players not having an OPS over .650, and adding McCutchen would make the team better. Have they not looked? We have a new team. I will pick 13 players to make the team with their 2025 OPS next to their name. McCutchen could have been an asset if he played 3rd base or catcher. He claims that he can still play the outfield, but the Pirates must not feel that way because they rarely put him in the field. In 2025, he played 7 games in the field and only played the entire game out in the field in 4 of them. Let’s look at a possible 13-man roster.

Things could change. Players could be traded. Another free agent could be signed making this even more crowded. Here are the 13 players that could make the team. Where noted I have put some players AAA OPS because of so few appearances in the Major Leagues. Joey Bart .696. Henry Davis .512 Nick Gonzales .661 Spencer Horwitz .787 Oneil Cruz .676 Bryan Reynolds .720 Brandon Lowe .785 Ryan O’ Hearn .803 Jake Mangum .698 Jared Triolo . 667 Jhostynxon Garcia .833 (AAA) Nick Yorke .825 (AAA) Rafael Flores .791 (AAA) The league average for OPS last year was .719. Naturally the Pirates were last with .655. McCutchen had an OPS of .700 last year, which is below league average. I would assume that this is not what you want from your DH. This 13 man roster does not include Jack Suwinski who the Pirates signed for 1 year and could make the team. It also does not include Endy Rodriquez whose short career has been marred by injuries. If he looks good this spring, could he make the team. As mentioned before this does not include Konner Griffin. Do you think he will stay down in AAA for the entire season, very unlikely.

This brings us back to the initial question. If the Pirates sign McCutchen, whose spot on the 13-man active roster is he going to take? Are you again going to stop the development of Nick Yorke, Password, or Rafael Flores for a below-average DH just because he is a franchise icon? All three of these players have spent 4 to 5 seasons at the minor league level. In my view, it’s time to put up or shut up. It is time for the youth movement to begin. The Pirates could swing some kind of trade that may open up some spots. If they sign Eugenio Suarez, the roster will tighten up even more. This is a good thing if, AND THAT IS A BIG IF, the Pirates make the right decisions when it comes to roster construction. Performance during spring training will have some impact on all of these decisions. We all know that spring training performance does not necessarily translate into regular season performance in both ways. At the present moment, the Pirates need to make a few more moves to make this team into a contender. Signing McCutchen is not one of them.

Posted on

The Pirate Morning Report: The 40 Man Roster, Position Players

The Pirates have had a surprising off-season so far. This is their busiest off-season, and supposedly they are not done. If Ben Cherington had just picked up the phone this winter, he would have had a busier off-season than last year. The new 40-man roster has 19 position players. There is talk of Konner Griffin making the team this spring. He is not on the roster, but if that is the case, that puts the Pirates at 20 players for 13 spots. On today’s blog, I will look at who I think has no chance of making the team, then the players that are locks for the final 13, so to speak. I will then take a look at what’s left for the remaining roster spots. This can all change if the Pirates make any more moves, and they say they are, but we all know that means nothing. I will discuss some of the moves they should make.

There are players, and surprisingly not that many, that I feel have no chance to make the team. The Pirates might not feel that way because, let’s face it, they think very strangely at times. Jack Brannigan, a recent addition to the roster, was added to protect him from being acquired in the Rule 5 draft. He is an infielder who has played 2nd, SS, and 3rd. His slash line at all minor league levels is .245/.356/.454. His highest level has been AA. It would be a stretch to see him make the team. Emanuel Valdez was acquired from the Red Sox last year. He played 1st base for the Pirates and was not impressive before his season ended with a shoulder injury. I am surprised he is still on the roster, let alone that he would make this team. Billy Cook would have had a chance if not for all the moves the Pirates have made. He is heading into his age 27 season with little chance of staying with the team this year. If the Pirates make any trades, I would not be surprised to see him as some kind of throw-in piece.

These are the players that will make the team unless they are traded: Joey Bart and Henry Davis. I still would not mind seeing either one traded, but if that doesn’t happen, I do not see the Pirates giving up on Davis at the start of the season. Nick Gonzales will be the shortstop or a bench player. Spencer Horwitz has 1st base locked down, especially the way he finished last year. Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds will be back, with the Pirates hoping for big bounce-back years. The new acquisitions Brandon Lowe, Ryan O’Hearn, and Jake Mangum will be on the team when they go up north. If you are counting, that leaves 8 players for the remaining 4 spots.

One of the names missing that many people consider a lock to make the team is Jared Triolo. First, let’s clear something up about Triolo that has been written about him in the offseason. Everyone is saying he finished strong last year. He did not. He had a big-time August. In 109 plate appearances, his slash line was .315/.417/.467. In September, in 107 plate appearances, his line was .240/.290/.380. That is not finishing strong. This gave him a season line of .227/.290/.356 for an 86 OPS+, significantly below league average. When third base is considered the big hole in your lineup and your main position is third base, I think there should be some doubt that you are going to make the team. Yes, he can play all infield positions and is a great fielder, but with that bat, I do not think it is enough to guarantee a spot on the opening day roster. In no particular order, here are the remaining seven players fighting for the four opening day roster spots: Rafael Flores, Nick Yorke, Jhostynxon Garcia, Endy Rodriguez, Jack Suwinski, Esmerlyn Valdez, and last but certainly not least, Konner Griffin. At this point, I am not going to hazard a guess as to who might make the opening day roster. I will say at the bottom of the list is Jack Suwinski. The only reason he was not on the no chance list is that the Pirates gave him a contract. If he has a huge spring, they might consider bringing him up north. It is still way too early to do much speculation, especially with the possibility of more moves to be made.

As mentioned earlier, the big hole in the lineup is at 3rd base. The Pirates could trade or sign Eugenio Suarez. In my mind one of the new trade options could be with the Cubs. They just acquired Alex Bregman. That makes 3rd baseman Matt Shaw expendable. After getting off to a slow start his rookie season. He finished pretty well his last 63 games, slashing .258/.317/.522. He hit 11 of his 13 home runs during the 2nd half. The Pirates have also been linked to trade talks with the Phillies for Alec Bohm. I am sure there are other 3rd base options out there. We can only hope that the Pirates can plug this major hole in their lineup. Spring training is about a month away. The off season has been better than most for the Pirates but that is not saying much. Will they finish this off or has been all it for show. Only time will tell. Hope there will be something to write about before February 1.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: The Pirates 2nd Trade

The Pirates made their 2nd trade of the off-season this past weekend. They acquired Brandon Lowe, Jake Mangum, and Mason Montgomery. They gave up Mike Burrows. I have a hard time believing how positively this trade has been received by the Pittsburgh media. The same people who think Ben Cherington should have been fired are now thinking he is brilliant. There is no question this trade could work out for all the clubs involved. The Tampa Bay Rays got two high prospects from the Houston Astros. In this blog, I will look at only the players the Pirates received and who they had to give up. The other news is that Japanese star Munetaka Murakami signed a 2-year, 34 million dollar deal with the Chicago White Sox. Another example of Ben Cherington being asleep at the wheel. Let’s look at the players that are involved in the latest Pirate trade.

Brandon Lowe: He is the biggest piece. Brandon Lowe has had some injury problems that have limited his ability in the last 4 years. His 4-year slash line is .241/.317/.444. His OPS+ over this time is 113. Last year he hit 31 home runs; he hit 16 on the road and 15 at home. He was much better on the road overall last year. He had a 134 OPS+ on the road and 98 at home. This bodes well for the Pirates. He is a below-average fielder, and that is being kind. He will turn 32 in July. This may not be a factor in Pittsburgh, but he has not performed well in the postseason. In 120 plate appearances, his slash line is .115/.167/.257. He will become a free agent in 2027. He is going to be a 1-year rental. The good news here is that many times a player performs really well in his last contract year. Even though the Pirates are not saying this, I would not be surprised if he becomes the primary DH. There is little question in my mind that he will be a considerable upgrade no matter where the Pirates use him.

Jake Mangun: Even though Lowe captured the headline, Jake Mangun may be the best piece of this trade. He will be 30 years old in March. He has only played one year in the majors. He does not have any power. He is a switch hitter. He had a nice 2025 season. He slashed .296/.330/.368 for an OPS+ of 96. He stole 27 bases with a 79% success rate. He is a plus fielder. He is essentially Tommy Pham with speed. He spent 4 seasons in AAA ball where he slashed .313/.357/.439. The Pirates may have found their leadoff man. What I find interesting is that the Rays never used him in that role. He batted in the middle of the lineup, 4 through 6. There is no doubt he would be considered a late bloomer. They do happen, and it would be nice for the Pirates if he turns out this way. He is not going to be a free agent until 2031. I would be even higher on this guy if the Rays hadn’t been the ones to let him go. Maybe it was his lack of power. If the Pirates use him right, and that is leading him off, he could be the best thing about this trade.

Mason Montgomery: Left handed relief pitcher. With the addition of him and Soto a weakness has turned into a strength. Montgomery was up and down between AAA and Tampa all of 2025. You have to wonder why? He appeared in 57 games for the Rays. In 37 of them he gave up no runs. In 13 others he gave up one run. His last outing on September 10th he gave up 5 runs in 2/3 of an inning which caused his ERA to jump almost a run to 5.67. He was sent down and never pitched again. Hopefully the new pitching coaches can help him with his command because this guy has good stuff. In 55 innings he averaged close to 13 strikeouts per 9 innings. At the very least he has some great potential from the left side.

Mike Burrows: The bad news is that he went to Houston. Whatever they do, they bring out the best in every pitcher that goes there. Even elite pitchers are even greater when they go to Houston. Gerrit Cole never achieved the heights that he did with Houston, even when he went to the Yankees. In his 2 years in Houston, he had an ERA+ of 164. If you take his best 2 years out of 5 in Pittsburgh, he averaged 130. Take his best two years in New York, and it’s 158. The same thing can be said about the great Justin Verlander. His best years were with Houston. They obviously see something in Burrows. Burrows last year only threw 96 innings, coming off Tommy John surgery. Fortunately, Houston is not in our division.

The Pirates have helped themselves with this trade. It would be hard not to help themselves with almost any acquisition. It will depend on how they use these players. Frankly, I like Brandon Lowe as the primary DH. Keeping him off the field should help with the defense and his health. He has not DH’d a lot, but when he has, he has been effective. In 2024, with 150 plate appearances as a DH, he slugged .598. Last year, he only had 39 PA’s but still slugged .638. Mangum looks to be the leadoff hitter that the Pirates have never had. He has speed and a good glove. That is the question. Will the Pirates use these players properly? Only time will tell. Mason Montgomery is another left-handed upgrade for the bullpen. There is still work to be done. The Pirates let one slip through their hands yesterday. It is looking more and more like Eugenio Suarez could be the next signing. Despite his many shortcomings—lots of strikeouts, low batting average, and not a great defender—he too would be an asset. I just can’t see him settling for a 2-year deal. He is going to turn 35 in July. It will be interesting to see if the Pirates take the risk and for how long. You never really know how a trade is going to turn out. If the Pirates had unloaded Mitch Keller in either of these trades I would be feeling a lot better about them. It is good to see the Pirates doing SOMETHING. I’m just not sure it is going to have much impact yet.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Stop The Presses The Pirates Make A Trade

The Pirates made their first significant move during this off-season by trading Johan Oviedo to the Boston Red Sox. The main player the Pirates received was Jhostynxon Garcia, soon to be 23 years old, an outfielder who has spent his career essentially in the minors. That first name will certainly be a mouthful. Greg Brown will probably just call him Horowitz Garcia. In 1,552 plate appearances at all levels of the minors, he has slashed .261/.351/.464. Good but not overly impressive numbers. This past year, in 351 plate appearances in AAA, he slugged .498. He is known to be a decent fielder and has played a lot of games in center field. This is the kind of trade that is low risk, high reward for the Pirates and the Red Sox. This trade could go either way for both clubs; it could be a dud for both teams, or one team could look like they fleeced the other team. It could be a great trade for both teams. Only time will tell. The Pirates now have two young outfielders with some high potential: Esmerlyn Valdez, who will turn 22 in January, tore up the Arizona Fall League. He has not seen any action higher than AA. It will be interesting to see how fast the Pirates allow these two to make it to the parent club. There were two other prospects sent to the Red Sox, a pitcher and a catcher. The Pirates received an 18-year-old pitcher to complete the five-player deal. The Pirates are fortunate that the Red Sox have such an abundance of outfield talent.

The Pirates still have their two big contract players, Bryan Reynolds and Mitch Keller. Together, they will make around 31 million in 2026. I don’t see how the Pirates can make any kind of splash in free agency and still have both on the team. Getting rid of both makes signing a free agent with a long-term 35 to 40 million dollar contract very feasible. Keeping them makes that almost impossible. Keller would still yield a good return. Reynolds would strictly be a salary dump, and hopefully, the Pirates may get a good bullpen arm, especially a left-hander. The Pirates making some kind of move before Christmas is pretty miraculous. Now, if they do something next week at the winter meetings, I may have to go on some heart medicine. This first trade may not turn out all that well, but it does make you feel that the Pirates may actually be trying to put a better team on the field. Let’s hope we see some more moves sooner rather than later.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Updates

As November comes to an end, the Pirates are making more national noise than normal. They are not really doing anything, but for some reason, the national media thinks they are going to be more active in the free-agent market. They have been connected to Kyle Schwarber and J. T. Realmuto. They supposedly offered a deal to Josh Naylor, but then that was disputed. They may try to sign their no. 1 prospect Konnor Griffin to a long term deal. There have been at least 3 MLB insiders who have written that the Pirates are going to spend more money and make a splash in the free-agent market. Most people around here are taking the attitude of, I will believe it when I see it. I take the same view, plus I really do not want to see the Pirates make a so-called big splash in the free-agent market. J. T. Realmuto has seen better days. Last season, his OPS+ was 91. Joey Bart’s was 96. You could argue that Realmuto is better defensively, but his contract last year paid him almost 24 million dollars. Now he may not make that with a new contract, but Joey Bart, who is arbitration eligible, is projected to make close to 3 million. I do not think Realmuto should be signed by the Pirates. They have greater needs at corner outfield and third base. Schwarber would be a huge upgrade at DH, but he is not going to help where the Pirates need it most. There are only 3 free agents that I feel the Pirates should consider signing: Munetaka Murakami, the third baseman from Japan; Kyle Tucker; and Bo Bichette. These are the only free agents under 30 years of age. Cody Bellinger is 30 years old, but I think he won’t be worth the price. Konnor Griffin is being talked about as the possible starting Pirate shortstop. He has played centerfield, allowing Bichette to move to shortstop. This would also put Oneil Cruz in right field, where he belongs. Cruz could be the DH also, which may be the best move of all. Despite all the media talk about the Pirates spending, I will be surprised if they do. I still think the best way to improve the team is through trades with Bryan Reynolds and Mitch Keller as the trade chips. Now let’s look at what the Pirates have actually done.

So far it is nothing more than the same old Pirates. Not only in what they have done but also in what they have said. First of all, they had to move some players out of their 40-man roster to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. The Pirates made this sound like they had some tough decisions to make. You’ve got to be kidding me! They let go of Colin Holderman, Dauri Moreta, Alexander Canario, and Ronny Simon. Apparently, Cam Devanney went to Japan. Here is who they left on the 40-man roster: Cam Sanders, 29 years old, with a lifetime 4.39 ERA in the minors and 6 major league appearances. Enmanuel Valdez is going into his age 27 season with a lifetime OPS+ of 87. His lifetime slugging is .392 with 2 years in Fenway Park. Will Robertson heads into his age 28 season with a lifetime major league average of .129. In six minor league seasons, he has a slash line of .247/.334/.458. I do not know if the Pirates will make any more roster moves. If they lose anybody in the Rule 5 draft, could they be any worse than those 3? They could have easily made more room on the 40 man roster. Hopefully, they won’t lose anybody, but time will tell. Then they signed Jack Suwinski and Yohan Ramirez. The combined deals came to about 2 million dollars. Not a lot of money by today’s standards, but why sign them at all, especially Ramirez? Since 2020, he has been with 8 teams and twice with the Pirates. He has a career ERA of 4.71 and an ERA+ of 90. He averages 4.5 walks every 9 innings. Now that’s a guy you want coming in when the game is on the line. If the Pirates lose a pitcher in the Rule 5 draft, he could not be this bad. Obviously, the Pirates are hoping for a miracle when it comes to Jack Suwinski. Maybe he should try batting right-handed; it would make about as much sense. They made a couple of their typical minor league signings. When you look at the way this organization thinks and performs, even if the Pirates were to sign a top 10 free agent, it would probably wind up being a big waste of money. They need to be giving all that potential money to one person: Paul Skenes.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: If I Was The Czar Of The Pirates

Now that baseball season is over, I was going to start doing some golf blogs. I decided to get this blog out as soon as possible. I could also title this “what the Pirates should do but won’t.” I also wanted to get this out while I still feel there is a glimmer of hope for the 2026 season. There are some things that the Pirates could do that would end all hopes for the 2026 season. If they sign Andrew McCutchen—I love Andrew McCutchen—they should have never let him go. They should have re-signed him after the 2018 season. He unfortunately hurt his knee, but at the time, who could have predicted that? The facts are this: he was the 29th ranked DH in baseball. The Pirates can’t afford this from their DH for another season. You can say the same thing about two other players, Jack Suwinski and Alexander Canario. If they are on the 13-player opening day roster, this season is over before it even starts. I am not even wasting my time showing their stats; I have done it way too many times before. Before it is too late and the Pirates take all the fun out of it, this is what I would do if I ran the Pirates.

The number one priority for the off-season should be to sign Paul Skenes to a long-term contract. I feel that he would take a 6-year, 200 million dollar contract. However, if he would go for it, I would offer him 15 years at 600 million, making him a Pirate forever. Both of these deals could be done without increasing the current Pirate payroll all that much. You would trade Bryan Reynolds and Mitch Keller, which frees up 31 million. Look at it this way: if some other team had Paul Skenes and they said they would give you Paul Skenes for Reynolds and Keller, you would make that trade in 1 second. The Pirates have already freed up 25 million in salaries by getting rid of Tommy Pham, Andrew Heaney, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Adam Frazier, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. That is 56 million, more than enough to do either deal. Is the 15-year deal risky? You bet it is. To me, it’s worth the risk. You are dealing with most likely a once-in-a-lifetime pitcher. Of course, Skenes would have to be willing to take the deals. The 6-year deal might have more appeal; who knows? I think either deal would have a good chance of getting the job done. What would be the starting rotation and what would the bullpen look like for 2026? My rotation would be Skenes, Bubba Chandler, Johan Oviedo, Braxton Ashcraft, and Hunter Barco. Barco is by far the least experienced, but I like him as the left-hander in the rotation. I can’t imagine him being any worse than who they had for the 5th and even the 4th starter last year. Where is Mike Burrows? I would put him in the bullpen and make him my new closer. He has the closer arsenal: fastball and changeup. I know that this would be a new role for him, but I think he would do just fine. Dennis Santana would go back to being the setup man. Justin Lawrence and Isaac Mattson would do 7th and 8th inning work also. That gets us up to 9 pitchers. The final 4 spots would be down to 7 candidates, in order of most likely to least likely to make the roster: Carmen Mlodzinski, Dauri Moreta, Chase Shugart, Evan Sisk, Kyle Nicolas, Eddy Yean, and Thomas Harrington. Then, there is the case of Jared Jones. I do not know what his timetable is exactly, but what better way to bring him back than to start him in the bullpen? You can never predict how injuries are going to affect your pitching staff, but this looks pretty solid to me. This staff looks pretty deep and could weather a few injuries here and there. Does anyone see a need to keep Mitch Keller on the team? I do not.

Now on to the position players. Besides trading Reynolds, I would also trade Jared Triolo. His defense makes him attractive to a lot of teams that have high-powered offenses, something the Pirates do not have. A lot of what I would do here is going to be predicated on not knowing what we might get in a trade for those three players: Keller, Reynolds, and Triolo. I will discuss the free agent market and trades at the end of the blog. I am going to look at this position by position with what the Pirates have after trading those players. At catcher, we have Joey Bart, Henry Davis, and new entry Rafael Flores. I would trade Joey Bart, but I would also be open to trading Davis. For now, the catchers would be Davis and Flores. The first baseman will be Spencer Horwitz. The last 62 games of the season, Horwitz’s slash line was .305/.395/.520. You hope he doesn’t turn out to be Triolo II, but you have to go with him a full season. Obviously, I would not have him lead off. Second base will go to Nick Gonzales. Gonzales slumped the last six weeks of the season to have solid regression from 24 to 25. Right now, he is the only viable option at the moment, but that could change. Hopefully, he will find his groove again. His ankle-foot injury could have been a factor, but time will tell. Hopefully, it will be fully healed by spring training. Third base, Jared Triolo is the only guy that can play third. Cam Devanney and Malcom Nunez are other options. Who is Malcom Nunez? I don’t think even the Pirates know who he is. He is 24 years old and has been with Indianapolis for the last four years. He got hurt this past year, and that could be an issue. In 874 at-bats, he has hit 21 homers at the AAA level. I would rather see Devanney play shortstop. The other possibility is Tsung-Che Cheng. Both he and Devanney are excellent glove men. This is what the shortstop position needs. Even though Devanney had awful batting stats, I am not ready to give up on him yet. Of the two positions, third base is where the biggest hole is, even if the Pirates would decide to keep Triolo. That leads us to the outfield. The first thing I would do is get Oneil Cruz out of center field and put him in right field. I would have Billy Cook and Nick Yorke play left field. Conner Griffin would be my opening day center fielder. I would see no need for him to go to AAA. Then you have three wild cards, all for different reasons. Can Endy Rodriguez, who has had severe elbow issues to say the least stay healthy for a season. Who knows how he will do even if he stays healthy? Even when he has been healthy, he has never had a chance to play regularly. To me, he would make the perfect DH replacement. He can also catch and play first base. Being a switch hitter makes him even more appealing as a DH. The next wild card is Esmerlyn Valdez, soon to be 22-year-old outfielder. He put up insane numbers at the Arizona Fall League. In 77 plate appearances, his slash line was .370/.519/.870. That’s right; he slugged .870. He could be on the team as soon as June. Finally, we have Tremar Johnson, the no. 1 pick of 2022. He had an okay year at AA Altoona, but with a young player—he just turned 21 in June—maturity and development can sometimes come fast. He’s got speed, and he does seem to be able to get on base. It might be too big of a jump, but he should at least start in AAA.

A lot of the lineup will be dictated by what the Pirates would get in return for Keller, Reynolds, Bart/Davis, and Triolo. Hopefully, they would get nothing but position players. They do not need to add pitching. Their biggest need is third base and outfield. As far as the free agent market is concerned, I would not delve into that at all. Having said that, I would consider three players if the contracts are not too big: the Japan star Munetaka Murakami, who has played third base, Bo Bichette, and Kyle Tucker would be the only other two free agents I would even consider because they are under 30 years old. I know there are players on the Pirates that are up for arbitration that will increase their payroll some. With 55 million gone from the payroll, the Pirates could do the six-year Skenes deal and sign one of the three free agents mentioned. It would still keep their payroll manageable at around 120 million. These are the things I would do during this offseason. I think the best bet is to improve the team through trades. Any one of those three free agents would be a big help also, but it would increase the payroll more than what the Pirates are comfortable with. One thing does not change: I finish every article of this type with the same sentence. We all know that this is what the Pirates should do, but we know that they won’t do it. They just do not have a high interest in bringing winning baseball to Pittsburgh.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Playoff Edition

Yes, I know the Pirates played their last game of the season yesterday, but who cares? They lost 3-1. The Pirate broadcast booth was as nauseating as ever, but even they said you could not sugarcoat this season. They left out that they tried like hell to do so. What is so depressing to me is that I do not see any changes coming. I do not even think they will fire the hitting coach. I’m not sure how to spell his last name, and I’m not going to look it up. I was going to do a playoff edition tomorrow, but I needed something to cheer me up. Therefore, I am doing it today. This will give a little more time to see if I am wrong about the pitiful Pirates. But enough of them already, and on to playoffs.

This should be the best baseball playoffs since they expanded the fields. Three of the four wild card series are toss-ups. I do not think anybody will be surprised by who wins the Tigers-Guardians, Padres-Cubs, and Red Sox-Yankees series. The Dodgers will be the solid favorite over the Reds. The Dodgers have already helped out the Reds by not putting Clayton Kershaw on the wild card roster. I pity any left-handed pitcher on the Dodgers in this series. They had better be perfect. Kershaw had a solid year for the Dodgers. He has an ERA+ of 118, and they recently tried him out of the bullpen. The Dodger bullpen is their weakest area. I cannot imagine the rationale for not having him on the roster. Maybe they want to give the Reds a fighting chance. Even so, I do not think the Reds will pull off the shocker. I know predictions are a dime a dozen. I have not a clue who might win the other three series. The Padres and Cubs split the six games they played against each other this year. In the other two series, there is a decided edge. The Red Sox beat the Yankees nine out of 13 times. The Guardians beat the Tigers eight out of 13 times. We will see if that has any meaning in the playoffs. Here is the one prediction I will make. No matter who wins the wild card round, that is as far as they are going. I feel that all four bye teams are going to win their respective series and face each other in the Championship Series. Speaking of predictions, I did not do badly on my preseason predictions on the Mets, Yankees, and Dodgers. I said the Mets would not make the playoffs. I said the Yankees would not make the playoffs. Wrong on that one. Despite some significant bumps in the road, the Yankees did much better than I expected. I said the Dodgers would not be as dominant as everybody said they would be. I said they would make the playoffs but not the World Series. So far, so good on that one. I feel that at least half of the wild card round will go three games. That has not happened since the expanded playoff formula. It will be great just watching some solid baseball being played. After watching the Pirates desecrate the game 162 times, it will be like being in Shangri-La. Tuesday, the fun begins.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Just One More Game To Go

It was another great pitching performance that gave the Pirates a 3-1 victory over the Braves. Bubba Chandler went 5 and 2/3 innings, giving up 1 run on 4 hits. He struck out 6 and issued no walks. He threw 86 pitches. Chase Shugart, Justin Lawrence, and Dennis Santana finished up in grand style. Together they gave up just one hit, striking out 6 and did not walk a batter. The AAA boys had a big game. They went 5 for 12, including a Henry Davis home run. The only bad thing about this game was the nauseating optimism coming from the Pirate broadcast booth. This Pirate team has big problems. Having some lousy players come up with good performances in meaningless games is no reason to sound optimistic. It is time to get real here. Let’s take a look at how bad this team is position by position. The following rankings are determined by Baseball Reference. Remember there are 30 teams in baseball.

The Pirates have the 26th best catcher. Those duties have been split pretty much equally by Joey Bart and Henry Davis. Bart has 303 plate appearances and Davis 276. The 1st base position is ranked 15th. Spencer Horwitz’s recent batting surge has helped move this position to the top half barely. Spoiler alert: This is the only position that is in the top half. Nick Gonzales and Adam Frazier early in the season have played 2nd base the most. Combined, they rank 27th in baseball. Even with Ke’Bryan Hayes’s outstanding glove, the 3rd base position is ranked 21st. The Pirate shortstops, led by IKF, come in at 20th. Tommy Pham has played the most in left field with 420 plate appearances. With his recent slump, the Pirates rank 20th. Oneil Cruz, with all his offensive and defensive issues, ranks 27th when it comes to centerfielders. Bryan Reynolds, who has appeared in right field the most, is ranked 21st. Andrew McCutchen is ranked 29th as a DH. To put this in perspective, McCutchen is a worse DH than Cruz is a centerfielder when compared with others at the position. Anybody see the glass half full here? The body of work here borders on the embarrassing. If the Pirates do not make any changes, they would probably set the record for bounce back seasons by their players. These rankings are based on each player’s overall play, including fielding, hitting, and baserunning. The Pirates, through most of the season, have had 13 position players on the team. It makes you wonder if they should keep any of them—maybe 3 to 5 at the most. What will most likely happen is that all but 1 or 2 will be on the team next year. But let’s hear some more optimism from that shill of a Pirate broadcast booth. Thank God it is over today.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: It Was Like Old Home Week

The Pirate offense exploded for 9 runs on 14 hits with 3 walks. Spencer Horwitz is on a tear right now. Last night he went 3 for 3 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs. The AAA boys went 3 for 14 but did have an RBI and scored 2 runs. The Pirates did all of this against none other than Joey (I Guess The Braves Need Pitching) Wentz. He was making his 13th start for the Braves. Wow! In his last 7 starts, he has given up 25 runs in a little over 29 innings. Another wow! He was relieved by Hunter (Getting Revenge) Stratton. He came in during the top of the 5th with runners on 1st and 2nd and no outs. He promptly walked the first batter he faced to load the bases. He gets out of the jam by striking out Pham and Suwinski. He gets Nick Yorke to ground out to end the inning. Stratton, you the man. Charlie Morton is scheduled to start on Sunday. There are former Pirates everywhere on this team. No wonder they missed the playoffs.

Today I want to discuss the Pirates management team. We found out this week that Ben Cherington’s contract runs through the 2027 season. This makes his firing after this season much less likely. He has secured one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. He also has secured the worst offense in baseball. The big question is, is it Cherington or is it Nutting? Is it live or is it Memorex? Were Cherington’s hands so tied by Nutting’s unwillingness to spend that he really could not improve the offense? Even going with that premise, I still think that Cherington should be fired. He, along with most of the Pirates front office, should go. Players just have not developed under this regime. In fact, they have all gotten worse over the last 4 years. The list just goes on: Ji Hwan Bae, Henry Davis, Oneil Cruz, Matt Gorski, Liover Peguero, Jack Suwinski, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Alika Williams, Rodolfo Castro, Travis Swaggerty, and Canaan Smith-Njigba. The jury is still out on Nick Gonzales, Billy Cook, Nick Yorke, Cam Devanney, and Tsung-Che Cheng. The Pirates have had pitching blunders too. Tyler Glasnow, Quinn Priester, and Clay Holmes all went on to post much better numbers with other teams. If this isn’t evidence that the player development department needs to be totally cleaned out, I don’t know what is. Anybody associated with hitting instruction should be fired. This was a team going into the 2024 season that thought they were going to contend for the division title. They did not even come close in 2024 and 2025. This leads to the final question: Should Don Kelly be retained? The short answer is no. Sure, he is an improvement over Derek (The Shadow) Shelton. A Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader would have been an improvement over Derek Shelton. My apologies to the cheerleading profession. The problem with this team is the same as it has always been. They look like they have a lot of good young talent. It just never seems to develop. The other constant failure is that they can never get the one or two pieces needed, either by free agency or trade, to put the team over the top. It has been going on for 6 years under this regime. It seems like it would be a no-brainer that changes need to be made. Only time will tell, but I am not optimistic.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: The Pirates Must Have Had A Plane To Catch

Final Score: Pirates 1 Reds 2

Why The Pirates Lost: The game was delayed for 1 hour and 22 minutes. Once the game started, the Pirates were in a big hurry to lose. They swung at 24 balls out of the strike zone and struck out 14 times. Only 3 of those strikeouts were over 5 pitches. Despite all the strikeouts, the Reds’ pitchers only threw 112 pitches for 9 innings. Compare that with 122 pitches the Pirates threw for 8 innings. The Pirates made 6 outs swinging at the first pitch. The game took 2 hours and 16 minutes to play. The Pirates were probably going to have to pay extra for their flight to Atlanta if they made the plane wait. I am sure the orders before the game were to swing at anything close to the plate. The Pirates had 3 hits and only 2 at-bats with runners in scoring position. They got the run in the 8th by concession. The AAA boys were 0 for 7 with 4 strikeouts. They followed orders and made the other 3 outs on 3 pitches. Braxton Ashcraft gave up 8 hits in 4 and 1/3 innings. Unfortunately, he gave up 4 of those in the same inning, enabling the Reds to score 2 runs. It would be all the runs they would need with the Pirates pressed for time.

Key Moments Of The Game: It was the rain delay that put the Pirates in a time crunch. It is the only plausible explanation for the Pirates’ hitting approach. They struck out 11 times in the first 6 innings. They had two hits. They put nine balls in play. They did a little better after that, only striking out 3 more times in the last 3 innings. By then, they knew they had plenty of time to catch their plane. They scored a run in the top of the 8th. Spencer Horwitz had a pinch-hit double with no outs. He moved around and scored on two ground outs. I guess they felt no need to pinch-run for him this time. The big play of the game came in the top of the 9th for the Reds. Bryan Reynolds took a 3-0 fastball and lifted it 348 feet to right field. He needed to hit it 352 feet. Noelvi Marte timed his jump perfectly and snagged the ball just as it was heading over the wall. McCutchen swung at the first pitch, what else, and flied out to right field to end the game.

Next Game: Tonight, the Braves in Atlanta. The season mercifully comes to an end with 3 games in Atlanta. The only team more disappointing than the Pirates may be the Braves. They spent a lot more money than the Pirates did to stink. Since these games are meaningless, the Morning Report will take a little different format. I will give a brief summary of the game and then discuss what the Pirates should do in various areas once the season is done. I want to do this before the season ends because I want to get it out of my system while there is still time. I have a sinking feeling that none of what should happen is going to happen. Thank God this is the last weekend.